Insideous Enemies of Grace within.

Saturday night- the kids are in bed... some R even sleeping... my wife is chillin with the PAXchix; Football on T.V. and my mind is furiously chewing over some "applied grace" thoughts [Things like- fighting against my own nasty behaviors by applying legalistic 'do betterness' or self motivated 'I can handle this probl...em by myself you watch' is still pride and self-righteousness... isn't it true that if you fight sin with sin it's still sin? And doesn't the Bible say SIN brings death?) hmmmm only by leaning hard into grace can I find freedom- set -free -it -ness!
For all those who are so used to the terms- 'grace'; 'law', 'righteousness' when referring to the place/actions/conversation/and work of salvation- I'm meaning something that happens in the life AFTER the glorious transaction of salvation.
For all those who have habitually struggled for years trying to make yourself sanctified, or good enough before God and others. STOP! We already know you aren't going to do it- cause we can't either. This is why we need and are offered grace from God.
Can I get specific for a minute: Men, we enter the ring against a wandering heart, drawing away by wandering eyes and the acts of self-worship we commonly call lust. So, if you are a Jesus follower, you know you have to 'put to death' this bit of nastiness- cause if you don't it'll put to death a bunch of stuff in your own life. [Believe me I see the underbelly of it everyday with the human traffic in my hood and the addictive, abusive, self effacing heart ache that comes along with it]. So you determine by pure legalism (rules/boundaries/and by doing the best you can in your self) to over come it! That's weapon #1 we are often told will conquer lust in our lives. Secondly, we tell ourselves I can control this thing- weapon of pride. Both of which are dirty sins in themselves and soon like the Pharisees of old, who perfected pride and legalism we birth a self-righteousness. Here's how it goes:: Yeah, I have fasted from this for like a year now (pride); I'm starving this habit (with internet blockers and accountability partners); I'm controlling my mind- "by bouncing my eyes"- Every Man's Battle. I'm not saying these things are necessarily bad- NO boundaries are good, if we don't have boundaries we have lawlessness- BUT what I am saying is that these self made rules and will power are NOT ENOUGH!! In fact if left to their own they twist into our thinking so that we actually stop confessing and start rewarding our 'good behavior' with just a taste of sinful compromise. Or when we are tired, or up late, or feel like our wives or girlfriends are not there for us than lust (which we have tried to hold down by our own strength) completely overcomes us- devours us and pushes us to a dark place from which we can hardly recover.
We need for the Grace of God to so totally sweep our hearts, minds, lives that we hate sin so deeply because of what it cost Jesus to secure our freedom. We need to be so constantly close to the cross that the love of God castes out what we think we need through the false assurance and temporary security driven by our self- worship displayed in lust -Come on, using someone else for our own glory, whether they participate or not is a horrendous act and misuse of the dignity, value and worth God has given them and a blatant act of self-worship- Only the discipline motivated by the grace of God will be the kind of discipline that keeps us quick to confess, able to truly repent and living in the freedom of forgiveness AND victory. Where sin is grace is able to super abound = victory!

Growing in the Graces:: Character for Leading a Christ-Centered Life

We are on to a NEW series- this one is looking at the HEART of the letter Paul wrote to Titus - the basic theme centers on Paul's instruction to Titus "to put in order" spiritual leadership who will deal with the mess that spiritual immaturity has created in the churches in Crete where I've sent you to serve. The basic problem?? Ever hear someone call another person a 'Cretan?'- it's not a flattering term- which you learn more of through the book of Titus. The basic problem is that there were a large group of those who called themselves spiritual leaders who demonstrated by their words and actions that they had little understanding or evidences of the transforming grace of God.
This series of messages is going to focus on Paul's core instruction to Titus to look for and encourage the character of Christ-centered living in the churches- and in the lives of everyone who calls themselves a Christ follower.
GROWING IN THE GRACES :: Character for Christ- Centered Living

Blessed by a Prostitute

I had a great privilege a few weekends ago to speak at special meetings about an hour and a half north east of Halifax, at Fellowship Baptist in Great Village. This annual event for the church has been a consistent encouragement for the saints who worship here but also as a way to reach into the lives of those who they have been praying for and burdened for spiritually.
Sunday morning we sensed that God had been working in the life of this Church, the place was full, the kids were chaotic, the worship was genuine- a good place to live out Christ- The Theme was 'GET REAL'; and we focused on some passages from Ephesians. Sunday night the crowd was cut to about half; I'd like to think it was the gritty preaching but most likely it was that the church doesn't usually hold a Sunday night service. I thought typically for the next few nights we would have a drop in attendance as it can be hard to make time in the evenings of a week.
The crowd did thin but not in numbers more in 'texture'. People were bringing out family, friends, neighbours who were struggling with loneliness, addiction or past hurts and failures. I am not sure that the messages got 'grittier' but the congregation seemed to. During these three days I received a lot of encouragement from some great and sincere people. God's hand was truly moving on the heart of both religious and irreligious sinners. But no encouragement would match the words of the most unlikely person on the last night of our meetings.
The last night there was a coffee time following the service (did I mention it's a Baptist church); a lady came to me at the front of the church and asked if I would speak to a lady in a wheelchair at the back. I made my way back to the last pew, sat down and introduced myself; There was an evident spirit of love and joy from this lady. She began to encourage me. She was so thrilled that we had moved our family into the north end of Halifax; She told me that she had lived for more then 16 years in the housing project down the road from my house. She spent most of her life as a prostitute in various cities across Canada. She said she had been held in apartments, hotels, moved around by pimps, and she had marks of torture on her body from the treatment she had received. She told me that it was in the midst of this darkness that Jesus found her, the she began to bless me; she said, 'you have the message and words that my friends there need to hear, and on and on she flowed out encouragement.' After a half hour or so of listening and being filled up by her words of encouragement and the reality of the Gospel of redemption; I asked if I could pray for her. I prayed that God would strengthen and encourage her, be close and alive in her life and protect her in the dark moments of physical struggle. After I was done praying she looked at me and said, I want you to know that I no longer have those darkest of days, Jesus is with me now, everyday. By this time I was crying with joy as to her honest love relationship with Jesus, and His care for her. She put her hand on me and prayed a prayer of blessing and protection on me and our family.
I am honestly still stuck for words as to how deeply it has blessed my soul to have come into direct contact with the grace of God at work in Cathy! Pray for her as she lives in a place she can receive care and strength in living with HIV; The heart of Jesus is so surprising to me as He seeks to shape the heart of a self moralist preacher with the words of some one who knows the depth of the love of God. May God help me, the vilest of sinners, to know how deep, long, wide and high His love is!